But, we consistently hear that you want a better way to understand, analyze, create and share workload profiles. That’s why we developed WorkloadCentral, a free, cloud-based analytics platform and community. We are introducing the beta version today at EMC World 2016.

With WorkloadCentral, we aim to help answer the questions our customers have asked us time and time again, such as:

How can I better understand my workloads?

Is there somewhere we can go to download and share workload data

What are other companies like mine doing in terms of best practices for sizing storage infrastructure?

One of the biggest IT challenges occurs when vendors or service providers struggle to paint clear pictures of individual workloads. There must be a better way to answer these questions with real data, real insight and real user scenarios.

And, we found it. The wait is over.

Today, we introduce and launch our new, free user-driven community that lets users answer these questions and learn so much more about workloads across all industries, protocols, infrastructure and applications.

So, what can WorkloadCentral do for me?

If you’ve ever struggled to understand how to simulate application workloads running in your production storage environment across any storage protocols, WorkloadCentral is for you. You want to see how a specific application workload actually performs, using real-world data from either your environment or that of another company? No problem.

What used to take weeks – or even months – to understand can now be visually analyzed, almost immediately, for free. Your guessing game is over.

WorkloadCentral provides the following key features:

Free workload analysis and creation

Advanced workload analytics

Workloads for validation, testing and benchmarking

A comprehensive workload library of resources

Okay, I’m in. Now, how do I get started?

WorkloadCentral puts an entire library of workloads and models at your fingertips. You can peruse our free, educational resources to learn everything there is to know about workloads – from apps planning to best practices, from troubleshooting to validation. Then, you can safely and securely upload your workload profile metadata and receive a visual workload analysis report, giving you access to workload patterns, behavioral characteristics and more.

You can also see workload data from other users and powerhouses in the IT community. Then, if you choose to use the workloads with Load DynamiX Enterprise, you can simulate the effectiveness of any potential storage system with your workloads. You can clone, copy and customize any community workload for use in your test lab. You can then share your workloads with your vendors, cloud service providers, and your peers instantly. Consider it your very own crystal ball that shows you the future success of your infrastructure, and how to get there.

Uh oh. Is my workload data identifiable?

Have no fear. Since WorkloadCentral analyzes only workload profile metadata, no actual customer data is ever shared.

How does this tie into everything else Virtual Instruments has been doing?

We’re committed to being a customer-first organization. Coming off our recent merger with Load DynamiX and the recent product enhancements to VirtualWisdom4.4, we’re continuing to bring simplicity, predictability and structure to the day-to-day lives of IT professionals and giving you the tools you need to be a true storage performance expert.

WorkloadCentral is a natural extension of this commitment. It’s unlike anything the industry has seen before. We’re looking forward to the coming months as the community grows, and we can share more and introduce additional features and insight. Stay tuned for more.